The sponsors of this year’s Irish Travel Trade Awards were invited to nominate travel agencies in each province, based on their knowledge of the agencies’ day-to-day workings. The nominated agencies were then each invited to submit a brief statement about their promotion activities and innovations during 2016, along with photos of the agency.

These submissions, and their websites and social media platforms, were then assessed by four judges – Sinead Grace, Tourism Ireland; Joan Scales, The Irish Times; Michael Flood, Editor, ITTN; and Neil Steedman, News & Features Editor, ITTN – with the judging panel convened by a non-voting Chairman, Stephen Murray, Grant Thornton.